A police spokesman said: ‘The internal temperature of the bollards is set at 26C and workers will fill them up with clean water every day so there is no need to worry about pollution or catching a cold.’

The idea received a mixed reaction on social media in China with some branding it a waste of public money.

Crossing the road before it is safe to do so, or jaywalking, is taken very seriously in China, where the authorities are increasingly using facial recognition technology as a law enforcement tool.